A safe supply of drinking water is a fundamental need worldwide. With growing populations, additional sources of drinking water are in ever increasing demand. Lakes and other fresh-water reservoirs provide one source from which drinking water can be drawn. An example of a system used to draw and purify water from such a source is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,750, titled “Community Drinking Water Purification System,” which issued on Dec. 7, 1999, and which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Basically, this type of system requires an intake apparatus to draw water from the source. In some standing bodies of water, the cleanest volume is found near, but not on the surface. Accordingly, water is preferably drawn from a sub-surface layer, near the top of the body of water. Various apparatus have been designed for this purpose. For one example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,855, titled “Method and Apparatus for Providing Water for Irrigating Turf Grass,” which issued on Oct. 1, 1991, teaches an intake which hangs in the water from a float. A tether between the float and the intake determines the level from which water is drawn. The float is free to move about the body of water, limited only by the hose which is connected to the intake.
A particularly vulnerable portion of this design is found at the connection between the hose and the intake. This portion of the hose forming the joint with the intake suffers the most wear. Because the intake rises and falls along with the float, it tends to stress and strain the joint between the intake and the hose. Likewise, because the intake follows the float, movement of the float will, in turn, flex and twist this joint. Over time the joint will suffer wear and eventually may crack or separate.
A broken hose can cause serious damage to a water filtration system. For one example, if the hose breaks away and falls to the bottom of a lake, it may draw in sand and rocks. These can clog in-line filters and if they flow to an intake pump can cause serious damage.